MUMBAI: Sanjiv Mehta, who will take over the baton from Nitin Paranjpe as MD & CEO of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) from October 1 this year, is expected to bring in a global perspective to the Rs 25,000-crore FMCG company. Unilever believes Mehta is the right "casting" to take HUL to the next level of growth. HUL announced on Friday that Paranjpe will join the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), which is responsible for managing profit and loss, and delivering growth across Unilever's regions, categories and functions, as president, home care. He will report to Unilever CEO Paul Polman.

Mehta, 53, who is currently the chairman, North Africa & Middle East, Unilever, has gained the experience of leading a multi-country organization spanning 20 countries in the region. And yet, he is not new to the Indian consumer, having worked here 21 years ago at Union Carbide. "At this stage of HUL's journey, having someone like Sanjiv Mehta is the best casting for us," Harish Manwani, COO, Unilever, told TOI in an exclusive interaction. "Where we are today, we have a solid business. We have got the right kind of capability and we have done some transformational work on distribution and go-to-market. What we need now is someone to come and build on this by bringing in a different perspective. What Sanjiv will now bring is a more global perspective having worked in so many different markets in terms of what else we can do here without starting from scratch because we have a strong foundation and a business in momentum," said Manwani.

Paranjpe's elevation to a global role at the ULE, a path which was studiously furrowed by former Lever stalwarts such as T Thomas, Ashok Ganguly, Keki Dadiseth and M S Banga, reflects continuity in the supply of Indian talent to the global market. While he succeeded in taking HUL from a stage of no-growth, when he took over as CEO in April 2008, to a stable growth today, Paranjpe's capabilities would be put to test in a global context of an economic slowdown.

At the same time, there is a need to enable India, which is among the growing economies, to harness Unilever's global expertise. This is already taking place, with the launch of global brands such as TRESemme, TIGI, and Magnum. "Clearly, the most important objective is to keep performance and competitive growth momentum going and, on the other hand, create an organization of the future. Sanjiv is a person who is commitment to organization development and talent development. We want the focus to be on performance and people," said Manwani. So would Mehta bring about a change in strategy? "Fundamentally, we don't change strategy because people (CEOs) are changing, the emphasis is changing and the context is changing. If we only look at it from the perspective of continuity or discontinuity, it doesn't work. We need to find a sweet spot between the two. That's what gets energy and growth in an organization," said Manwani.

The leadership change has, however, put a question mark on whether CEO tenures at HUL would remain in the medium-term bracket of five years. Manwani has been a proponent of longer tenures for CEOs. "Nitin spent enough time here to be able to put together an agenda and then make sure he was able to deliver on it. That is what I call a long tenure where you are responsible and accountable for the actions you have planned for. Nitin was able to see through the consequences of a strategy he and his team put together," said Manwani.

Mehta would, however, take over as CEO at a time when discretionary spends have slowed down. HUL's numbers for the first quarter reflect the challenging environment. The net profit declined 23%, although there was an effect of exceptional income generated in the corresponding quarter from the sale of properties. Sales, on the other hand, grew at a modest 7%. For the first time, a strong brand like Fair & Lovely was impacted by a challenging market context. Analysts described the weak underlying volume growth of 4% as "disappointing".

HUL, which contributes 6-7% to Unilever's turnover is an important market for the consumer products giant which only recently pumped Rs 19,180 crore through an open offer to increase its stake to 67% in the company. Surely, Mehta's task is cut out: to deliver growth in a competitive and challenging market. Manwani's choice of topic for his AGM speech, "Leadership in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) is apt for the occasion. "We live in a world of a new normal. It's not going to change. What is important is agility. It is even more important that in choppy waters we see a destination and stick to a few non-negotiables like values, whether in good or bad times," he said.

On the overall slowdown of growth in emerging markets, something Unilever is banking on, Manwani said he was confident the growth would not be static all the time.

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Sanjiv Mehta, who will take over the baton from Nitin Paranjpe as MD & CEO of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) from October 1 this year, is expected to bring in a global perspective to the Rs 25,000-crore FMCG company.